Berthold Spitz House

{{short description|United States historic place}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Berthold Spitz House

| nrhp_type = nrhp

| partof = Fourth Ward Historic District

| partof_refnum = 80002534

| designated_other1 = N.M. State Register of Cultural Properties

| designated_other1_date = February 28, 1975

| designated_other1_number = 371{{cite web | title=State and National Register Spreadsheet | url=http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org/assets/files/registers/SR%20NR%20Excel%20Database.xlsx | publisher=New Mexico Department of Historic Preservation | accessdate=December 11, 2018 | format=Excel | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218210732/http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org/assets/files/registers/SR%20NR%20Excel%20Database.xlsx | archive-date=February 18, 2018 | url-status=dead }}

| designated_other1_num_position = bottom

| image = Berthold Spitz House.jpg

| caption = The house in 2012

| location = 323 10th St. NW,
Albuquerque, New Mexico

| coordinates = {{coord|35|5|19|N|106|39|28|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = New Mexico#USA

| built = c. 1910

| architect = Trost & Trost

| architecture = Prairie School

| designated_nrhp_type = December 22, 1977

| area =

| refnum = 77000922{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

| nrhp_type2 = indcp

| designated_nrhp_type2 = December 1, 1980

| nocat = yes

}}

The Berthold Spitz House is a historic house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is significant as the city's best example of Prairie School architecture.{{cite web | url={{NRHP url|id=77000922}} | title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Berthold Spitz House | publisher=National Park Service | date=December 22, 1977}} with {{NRHP url | id=77000922 | photos=y | title=eight accompanying photos}}{{cite book |last1=Dewitt |first1=Susan |title=Historic Albuquerque Today: An Overview Survey of Historic Buildings and Districts |date=1978 |publisher=Historic Landmarks Survey of Albuquerque |location=Albuquerque |page=102}} It was built around 1910 by Berthold Spitz (c. 1860–1933) and his wife Fannie Schutz Spitz (1873–1943). Berthold was a German Jewish merchant who was born in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) and immigrated to Albuquerque around 1880. He ran a successful dry goods business and made a few forays into local politics before being appointed as the city's postmaster in 1921.{{cite news |title=Berthold Spitz, Postmaster, Old Resident, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26140865/albuquerque_journal/ |accessdate=December 12, 2018 |work=Albuquerque Journal |date=September 5, 1933 |via=Newspapers.com}} Fannie grew up in El Paso and was notable as the inventor of the first commercial pine nut shelling machine. She was described by the Albuquerque Journal as "the greatest known authority on the piñon nut and its possibilities".{{cite news |title=Mrs. Spitz Has Great Invention in Pinon Sheller |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14862545/fannie_s_spitz_1921/ |accessdate=October 6, 2019 |work=Albuquerque Journal |date=November 21, 1921 | via=Newspapers.com}} The house was designed by Henry C. Trost of the El Paso firm of Trost & Trost. It was listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1975 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The house is a two-story masonry building with a broadly overhanging hipped roof. The design is relatively simple and lacks the heavy ornamentation of some of Trost's other Prairie houses, including his own residence in El Paso. The Spitz House has stuccoed walls with dark wooden trim around the casement windows and a projecting sill course on the second floor. The front elevation is symmetrical, with a hipped entrance porch, while the rear has an asymmetrical two-story projection and less regular window patterns.